At his locker, Spond looked almost as defeated as he was on the second-quarter play when tailback Eddie Lacy threw him to the ground during a run. It wasn’t so much a stiff-arm as it was a perfect rendering of Reggie White’s famous pass-rush technique. If there was a single moment that summed up this game, it was that one.

Without looking up at his questioner, Spond did his best to put up a good front.

“There is nothing but the word ‘motivation,’ ” he said. “We will all remember this feeling for as long as we live. The only thing that will get rid of this feeling is winning a game like this.”

Before this mauling in Miami, Notre Dame looked like a program for which a return to the title game was a realistic goal. Win early at Michigan and late at Stanford, and the rest of the schedule seems easy enough. Notre Dame would be stout again along both lines. Golson would be much better after an offseason spent under development as Kelly’s No. 1 guy.

Lose a close one to the Tide before all that? No biggie. Go back to South Bend, make a few subtle improvements and—boom—when January 2014 rolls around, storm Pasadena and finish the job.

So, we’d expect Spond to say those words about motivation. Te’o surely wanted to believe it, too, when he called the Irish “close” to winning it all.

It’s all just a little hard to believe after those 60 minutes of hell for the team that had promised it would play to the max from start to finish, no matter the score.

“We didn’t want to be that team where people said we quit,” Martin said.

They didn’t quit. They were terminated. Not even their best effort was remotely good enough vs. a vastly superior opponent.

Sometimes, reality just plain bites.

“It sucks,” said Te’o, whose loss to the NFL won’t make matters any better for the Irish.

“We’re close, but obviously we’re not there. If we were there, we’d be holding that crystal ball.”

If they were holding a crystal ball, Nick Saban’s band of bullies probably would grab it out of their hands and beat them with it.

It’s got to feel daunting for the Irish as they face the long, cold winter back on campus as well as the inescapable truth that Alabama’s dominant victory was a repudiation of so much of what Kelly, his staff and his players believe in.

Physical football? Turns out Notre Dame isn’t there yet.

Dominant up front? Notre Dame learned the hard way what that looks like.

Maximum effort at all times? It’s hard to give when you’re when you’re being blown out and the doubt’s creeping in.

“We imposed our will for 60 minutes,” said Alabama tight end Michael Williams, who added—not mean-spiritedly at all—that he saw in the Irish’s eyes long before the finish and that they knew they had no chance.

Is there any recovering from that?

“We’re all going to learn, not just the players but the coaches; we hadn’t been in this game, either,” Kelly said. “So we’re going to learn a great deal from it and be better coaches from it, as well.”

They’ll learn, but not as much as they learned on Monday night. They learned the truth about some things.

Such as: Alabama’s way up there, and we’re down here.

And also this: If the Irish somehow do get back to the title game a year from now, it’s mighty likely the Tide will be waiting for them once again.